Crushed
by Tilith
Summary: BeastBoy's game station is broken just after he set a new highscore and Cyborg is at Titans East, having taken the one in the common room with him. So who could save BB from boredom, fix his game station and bring back his highscore? We'll, Raven is pretty good with technical stuff, too, right? BBRae all the way.


_Hellooo dudes and dudettes! Here comes another one with the Teen Titans, who I still don't own. Enjoy and SMILE!_

**Crushed**

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

His scream filled with agony and despair echoed through the whole Titans tower, but no one bothered. Robin and Starfire were out to 'teach Star the earthly wonders of dating', Cyborg got to Steel City a few days ago to help Titans East with some technical problems and Raven was in her room, meditating in a sound proof energy bubble.

"No, please, I just finally busted Cy's highscore, you can't do this to me!" BeastBoy pleaded, but it didn't help, his game station didn't respond anymore, the TV screen remained blank.

This was worst case. Cyborg couldn't fix it anytime soon, he would return not earlier than in two weeks, plus he had taken the game station from the common room to brag around with his highscores. Criminal rate was low right now, all comic books read, nothing on TV and since his growth spurt he hadn't to work out as much to stay fit anymore. Nature had been kind with him for once. But he would have to face the ultimate boredom if he wouldn't figure out a way to fix his gaming console and his highscore he had worked on so long would be lost as well…

He couldn't fix it by himself, he had tried it with the last one he had owned, which had been the reason he had gotten this one in the first place.

There was only one person left in the tower who would maybe be able to fix it, because she was almost as good with the technical stuff as Cyborg was. Although only the thought of her made his heart beat at light speed, he would have to ask her – Raven.

* * *

As he knocked on her door holding his broken game station in his arms he thought about how he would get her to repair it. She wouldn't agree that easily to something that seemed absolutely pointless in her opinion.

But first she had to open her door.

"Raven? Hey, Rae… Come on, open up! Please?" he knocked louder starting to feel anxious. Was she alright? Maybe she couldn't open because she was sick or something? He hadn't known of her new habit with the sound proof bubble. Suddenly the door finally opened up.

"BeastBoy, could you _please_ stop worrying over whatever in front of my door? It's taking me from meditation."

"Hehe, sorry, Rae; I just thought you didn't hear me knock because something was wrong…" he explained scratching the back of his head and smiling sheepishly.

"Why did you knock in the first place?" asked seeming more and more annoyed with her visitor.

"Well, you see... Somehow my game station had a break down and since Cy won't be here for a while I hoped you could help me out of my dilemma being the genius you are," he grinned hopefully.

Maybe his eyes tricked him but somehow he got the impression she blushed underneath the shadow of her hood, although it was hard to tell. Did her heart beat faster? He could hear and sense it, maybe she really was sick?

"Why should I go through the pain of repairing something as pointless as your game station anyway?" He had known she wouldn't agree this easily.

"Please, come on, Rae! Do a friend a favor and save him from boredom!"

"Hmm, not quite convinced…" she said, leaning lazily on the door frame, checking her fingernails while she spoke.

"You're bargaining? Seriously Rae?" he asked fake-incredulously. He had seen this one coming.

"I just want to know what's in it for me. And it's still Raven," she declared looking at him.

"Alright, Raven! I could take you out for dinner or I'd do your chores for the rest of today or just leave you alone for an entire day; imagine a day without interruption in your meditation…" he tried to offer. He was quite sure she would go for the quiet day, what somehow made him kind of sad.

"Not tempted…" Raven declared to his surprise in her monotone voice, turning away and seeming to close the door. First he was too shocked to move, then he put his foot in the door and held it open with his free hand.

"PLEASE, Raven! You know how annoying I get when I'm bored! I'll do anything you want, just please help me!"

She stopped in her track.

"Anything? Whatever I'll ask, you'll do without complaining? Really _anything_?"

The tone she said 'anything' made him shudder and tremble but he had no choice, had he?

"I promise, I'll do anything you want me to do without any form of complaint, just, please, fix this for me!" he said, hopefully holding his broken device up to her. To his joyful surprise she took it carefully from him saying: "I'll call you on the communicator when I'll be finished. Try to not disturb me meanwhile." She turned away again.

"Wait, Rea, what would I have to do?" he asked warily. Maybe he had gotten too far by promising her doing _anything_… He felt goose bumps creeping up his arms and neck and his heart sank as she faced him once more, this time with an evil grin on her face that would make most of the city villains run. As fast as they could. Screaming for their mothers.

He gulped as she said: "Patience, Gar, I'll tell you when I'm finished with the repairing," and turning she closed the door behind her.

BeastBoy just stood there for a while, trying to proceed what just had happened. Did she just call him 'Gar'?

* * *

After standing confused in front of her door for another half of an hour he had returned to his room. He could do something productive while he was waiting and because he really had nothing else to do nor wanted to mess up Raven's mood by making too much noise, he started what his team considered as an impossible task: He decided to finally clean up his room.

After about an hour he had all of his dirty clothes in the laundry, already turning around in the washing machine. Now he was able to see how dirty the floor had gotten. He really would need to clean that…

Suddenly an extremely loud bang sounded through the tower, making the whole thing tremble dangerously. Without a second thought BeastBoy changed into a hawk and flew as fast as he could to Raven's room. Not bothering to knock he morphed into a fly and busted into her room.

"Raven! Are you okay? I heard this huge… Rae?" he blurted until he saw her in front of him, seemingly unharmed but surrounded by her black aura, microchips shattered all over the floor.

"Rae, did you just blow up my game station?" he whispered incredulously.

She turned to him, glaring angrily, her powers still getting haywire around her. "I thought I told you to STAY AWAY until I would call you…" she hissed menacingly .

"Already out!" he squealed leaving as fast as he had come. He knew he could mess with her about his trashed game station when she would be back to normal – normal for Raven at least… But in her current state he wouldn't get out from a fight that well, it would be pure suicide.

* * *

Another hour passed, now his room looked rather… clean. He never would have thought he could clean up his room this fast, although it helps a lot to be able to change into any animal you'd like.

He wiped the sweat of his face as he heard a knock on his door. He opened it and was slightly surprised.

"Hey Raven, you okay?" he asked looking at her messed up cloak.

"Just fine. Here is your game station," she said monotone, holding up a brand new game station nine-point-two.

"Uhm… Rae? I don't want to appear ungrateful but… this isn't my game station…"

She raised an eyebrow: "Something wrong with this one?"

BeastBoy sighed deeply: "No, it's really kind of you that you got through the pain to buy a new one but I can't pay you back the money, plus my highscore is gone if you can't fix my old one… I was finally getting past Cyborg at Zombie Blaster 23."

He really did feel grateful for Raven's hard try but still was frustrated at the prospect of going through the whole thing again and again.

Raven cleared her throat to get back his attention. "So, if you don't have to pay me back AND I'll help you get your highscore again, you'll still hold the bargain?"

BeastBoy was startled. Did she really mean that? Why would she? What was so important to her she wanted to ask him to do so badly? Wait, did RAVEN just offer to help HIM with a VIDEOGAME?!

"You… and videogames?" he asked unbelieving.

"Just because I prefer to not play doesn't mean I can't play," she smiled wickedly. His eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped.

"You… you are serious?!"

"Of course I am. Except if you want to chicken out…"

BeastBoy found back to his signature grin. "So what are we waiting for? Come in!" he said excited, grabbed her wrist and dragged her into his room.

"Wait. BeastBoy, did you… just clean up your room?" she asked surprised.

"Well, I had to do something while I waited, right?"

"We better go into my room, we don't need to destroy your efforts…" He clueless looked at her, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Just… trust me, okay?" she demanded.

He smiled: "Of course I do. Let's go!" He speeded down the hallway to her room, dragging her behind him still holding on to her wrist, but she didn't object in the slightest.

* * *

After five hours of nonstop gaming they had surpassed Cy's highscore several times and had reached the end of the last level. Raven not only COULD play videogames, she was downright awesome at it. But now he could understand why she 'prefered' not to play. He would just say that she got a little too excited and getting excited not really helped her controlling her powers…

"Look at the screen, you idiot, not at me! He's coming from the left!" she yelled while she blew up one of her last standing bookshelves. Luckily they were in her room. Still it astonished him how focused she was. Maybe his short attention span was the reason he always kept loosing against Cyborg. But it was hard to not look at her, her cheeks glowing in anticipation.

"Come on, Gar, one more hit!"

He was close to finish of the last boss, he definitely had to take his eyes from her for once, as hard as it seemed. After one more hit the screen really declared BeastBoy as the winner and showing the new highscore Cy would have to deal with after composing himself from the shock he certainly would get.

"YES! We did it! We did it!" they both shouted hugging each other and jumping around, sending some more books into nirvana by Raven's powers due to the unusual emotional display.

"I can't believe we won like that! All thanks to you Rae!" he yelled, spinning her around and causing her to squeal really un-Raven-like. Without even thinking he pulled her close and kissed her overjoyed. As Ravens bed blew up from a black energy burst he realized what he did. Immediately he let go of her as if he would get burned and blushed furiously.

"I-I-I-I-I am so… so so-so-sorry, Rae! I-I… shouldn't have… I just…" he stuttered. He knew he would be the next thing in the room blowing up, so he already closed his eyes and expected pain that never would come. Carefully he reopened one eye after the other. Raven still stood there astonished and blushing almost as much as him.

"Uhm… Rae?" he asked unsure.

Finally she looked at him.

"You… just stole my first kiss…" she sated evenly, not breaking their eye contact, causing BeastBoy to blush even more horribly.

"I-I-I already said, I am really, really sorry, Rae, I…" he waved his hands wildly in loss of words. Like she didn't listen to his babbling she just moved closer and grabbed his collar. He already thought his last moment on earth had come.

"Just shut up and give it back!" she growled before their lips smashed together once more. At first he had been shocked but soon he simply melted into the kiss, pulling her even closer.

They parted heavily breathing and just stood there for a while, keeping their eyes closed, holding on to each other like the whole universe had stopped to exist at the very moment. But as always, BeastBoy had to break the silence.

"Rae…" he whispered softly, "Can you slap me please?"

She blinked in confusion and looked up to him asking: "What?"

"I just want to make sure that I'm not dreaming that I kissed the girl I had a major crush for years not only once but twice and I'm still alive…" he cooed grinning his signature goofy grin.

Understanding his fear, she affectionately slapped him on the back of his head, allowing herself a shadow of a smile.

"Better?"

"Ouch! But yeah, way better," he grinned even wider and hugged her more firmly.

"So, I'm your 'major crush for years'?" she inquired incredulously. He blushed again and parted slightly from her to look into her eyes.

He answered sheepishly: "Wasn't it obvious? Cy and Robin already teased me about it for a while now."

"In that case, I should have crushed your game station earlier," she declared, pulling him back into their embrace.

* * *

Cyborg returned even three days later than he intended originally, he hadn't had the heart to part this early from his little Honey-Bee. He took in a deep breath as he entered the common room. Although he hated to leave Bee, it felt good to come home. He looked around the place he had missed the most. To his utter surprise the steel kitchen shone freshly cleaned and the living room area was pleasantly neat. Was he in the right tower?

"Hello everyone? I'm back!" he shouted cheerfully. He was slightly stunned hearing two voices from the couch. He hadn't seen anyone.

"Hey, Cy!"

"Hello, Cyborg."

He walked over to greet his friends as he was mesmerized by the device placed under the giant TV screen.

"You bought the new game station nine-point-two?" he squealed delighted and with stars shining in his human eye.

"Well, Rae accidentally crushed mine, so…" BeastBoy said calmly.

"You asked me to repair it in the first place," she retorted evenly, cuddling some more into BeastBoy, turning the page of her book.

"Yep, my bad. Anyway, Rae got me a new one," he explained softly placing a peck on her hair without letting his eyes leaving the page of his own book.

Wait. What? BeastBoy reading? A real book? Pecking Raven on her head? RAVEN CUDDLING WITH BEASTBOY?! Cyborg's jaw dropped so hard it hit the basement.

"GUYS! What the hell is going on with you?" he yelled in disbelieve. They surely were playing a prank on him. At least he caused the young changeling to look up from his book (but that still sounded so wrong in his head).

"Dude, seriously, we're trying to read over here! Can you keep it down a bit before you'll crush our eardrums?"

"Keep it down? KEEP IT DOWN?! I LEAVE FOR A BIT MORE THAN THREE WEEKS ONLY TO COME BACK TO A REVERSED REALITY AND YOU ASK ME TO KEEP IT DOWN?"

The outburst now caused Raven to close her book and sit up.

"Cyborg, I understand your confusion to the current situation but, please, calm down so we can explain it to you," she said in her usual monotone.

The display of a normal behavior somehow helped Cyborg to calm down a notch.

"Alright," he panted, "explain."

BeastBoy and Raven exchanged a glance conversing mutely like only couples could until they turned their attention back to their cybernetic friend. Again it was Raven who spoke up in her monotone, apparently they had decided it would be best to break him the news that way.

"Gar's game station broke so we got into a bargain that would repair it and he would do anything I'd ask him to afterwards, but like he already said, I accidentally crushed it in a tantrum so bought him a new one but he was desperate because he would lose his highscore which would have beaten yours. So I helped him make it again on the new game station and when we had done an even better one he kissed me out of joy and I kissed him back and he confessed so we got together and he obliged to the bargain and that's how we came to the current situation."

"What – wait – you kissed her?" he pointed at BeastBoy, "And you kissed him BACK?" he asked unbelieving pointing at Raven.

"Well, duh!" BeastBoy said annoyed at his friend's disbelieve.

"And… what was BB's part in this bargain?"

"First he had to clean up the whole tower, as you can see, because my room was a mess after the videogame, and I was tired of doing all the cleaning by myself considering Robin and Starfire always being out on their 'dating lessons'…" Raven got on.

"Yeah, figure, it was a good part of work, dude..." the changeling chimed in.

"Second he has to abstinent himself from videogames for three months reading some books I'd give him instead."

Cyborg jaw dropped again, his eyes fixed on BeastBoy.

"You… you really accepted that?!"

"You see, I already had agreed to it before I knew and I promised to not complain. But you know, it's not that bad, reading I mean! It's some high class entertainment if you just give it a shot."

Cyborg couldn't stand it. He grabbed Ravens shoulders and shook her wildly.

"What have you done to my buddy BeastBoy and how do we get him back?" he asked in desperation. But this didn't please his 'buddy', not at all.

"HEY! Let her go!" he growled tearing them apart, "Just calm down, will you? I'm still myself, still cracking lame jokes and playing stupid pranks, still loving tofu and after the three months I'll be playing videogames like before. But I will also want to read from time to time and spend a lot of time with Rae, because I love her! So can you accept our happiness or not?" he stated with crossed arms and a frown.

Cyborg lowered his head in shame and said: "Of course I can. Sorry, it just… kind of surprised me, ya know?" They grinned at each other sheepishly and forgiving.

"But what will I do until you're back in the gaming ring?"

"How about you'd try to beat my highscore Raven helped to put up, Cy?" BeastBoy grinned.

"Ha! Let me see that cute little score you got." And with this, Cyborg settled in front of the new game station he was eager to try out and the young couple got back to their cuddling and reading.

This was until they heard a metallic cling and a robotic voice declaring: "Error… Error… Error…" while the TV screen displayed Raven and BeastBoy's highscore.

"At least we can read on in peace…" the green boy stated shrugging.

Raven glanced at him in amusement. "You know, maybe I have a bad influence on you, Gar."

He looked back in her eyes and stated: "It can't be that bad as long as I like it!" kissing her on her lips. She didn't object.

* * *

A few months later, BeastBoy and Raven being an item got to be part of the daily routine as well as seeing them reading cuddled on the common room couch. Of course, like the green teen had predicted it, he still cracked lame jokes and played stupid pranks, for what Raven would give him her usual glare. He still loved tofu and even got his girlfriend to try it. She had to admit it wasn't that bad and ate it with her love from time to time. And he still played videogames, but not to the previous extend. Thanks to his reading he had learned to focus more what made it hard for Cyborg to keep up with him. It still bugged the mechanical teen that he couldn't reach the green bean's highscore.

One afternoon while Raven was meditating on the roof, he and BeastBoy were playing a new racing game. Much to Cyborg's distaste, the younger male ruled the game, not even Robin could beat him. Maybe he could distract his green friend a bit to win this round.

"So why exactly did Raven ask you of all the things she could have asked to stop playing videogames and start reading?"

BeastBoy shrugged and answered without taking his eyes from the screen: "She said she'd want to discuss more with her boyfriend than washing dishes, slashing zombies and fighting crime. Guess she has a point at that."

Cyborg had to admit this made sense. Bee had told him something similar last week in an argument. Maybe he really should give it a try. Distraction was just second rated now.

"Any suggestions for an almost twenty year old tin-can?"

"Sure, try some science fiction, that would be your genre, like 'Dune' maybe or some thrillers. Steven King is a pretty good writer, got a lot of action and twists and sometimes gets rather bloody. Or Catherine Slaughter, she's more into the crime stuff."

"There are books like that?" he asked kindly surprised. He usually read only science and technical books.

"Yep. Watch out, Cy, I'm already at the finish line aaand I won!" BeastBoy said with satisfaction.

No victory dance, no yelling childishly around, no rubbing salt in the wounds of the loser. The changeling had grown.

"She's got some good influence on you, buddy," Cyborg said mildly impressed.

"She is the best damn thing that ever happened to me, Cy," BeastBoy stated with a wide grin.


End file.
